Tag: Italy

Urban sketching is about recording great stories in our sketchbooks! And what better way to tell a story than by the people that live them. Thanks to the Urban Sketchers Liguria, Genova will be full of sketchers, workshops and exhibitions from the 22nd to the 30th of June. My contribution to the event is a people sketching workshop in Mercato Orientale.

In the Local Markets, Great People sketching workshop, we will see the Mercato Orientale from the viewpoint of the great people working and living in it. We will focus on generic people sketching, close-up features, postures and actions, and architecture as a stage for the people’s stories.
Whether they are the local grocer, the coffee maker, the kids playing or the granma shopping, all stories matter, if we aim to tell the stories of the world, one sketch at a time.

The goals of the workshop are to:

Learn how to quickly capture a crowd of people in an urban (indoors or outdoors) setting;

The Palatino hill is, as the name suggests, the palatial district of ancient Rome. Many emperors and patricians established their residences here, looking over the other six hills of the city, and connected to them by remains of fora and other public spaces. It is now a closed off, ticket-only area of the city, where tourists meander the ruins, finding out how the ancient masters of the empire lived their daily lives.

Right besides it, the Capitolino, a citadel hill heavily connected to the myths that populate the origins of Rome, was the building ground to several temples, including a major temple to Jupiter. Nowadays, the post-medieval palazzi dominate the hill, with the overwhelming Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio in center stage.

To the south lies the Aventino hill, made known for its association with working-class Romans and criminal leagues in HBO’s excellent series “Rome“. The historical past of the Aventino is that of a diverse area, where foreign peoples and religions made entry to the ancient city. Today, the Aventino is an affluent and idyllic hill, where wealthy manors and richly designed gardens overlook the Circo Massimo and the Tibre between the pines of the Giardino degli Aranci.

Having read Marguerite Yourcenar’s “Memoirs of Hadrian” in my youth, a major highlight in the trip to Rome had to be the notorious emperor’s personal villa, just outside of Tivoli, some 30km from the empire’s capital.

In his elder years, the Hadrian ruled from there, at a convenient distance from Rome, but far enough to be a secluded and quiet countryside estate.

The scale of the compound is immense, as was the breadth of the Roman empire at the time of Hadrian. It was supposedly self-sufficient, having plenty of agricultural land around it, with enough population to be regarded as a small town.

The emperor had his court living there, as well as regular guests and imperial officials.

The plan of the villa evolved as did Hadrian himself. Many of the places were named and built after Greek and Egyptian deities and influences Hadrian interested himself with, and the several additions to the villa reflected the eclectic life, love and travels of the emperor.

The ancient controversial amphitheater is the archetypal icon of the Roman empire. The spectacle of life and death raged behind its arches and on its oval stage since its completion in 80 AD. Gladiators, slaves, convicts and beasts, all spilled their blood in the sand throughout the rule of the Roman emperors.

Its many uses along the ages, which attest to the architectural quality of the compound, also reflect the change in society’s priorities of life and the city. In the middle ages, dwellers of Rome made the vaults of the Colosseum their home. A religious order established itself there for a few centuries. A Roman family made it their stronghold for a while. Its stone blocks and bronze were taken away for other uses in the city. Earthquakes and fires also had their way with the structure, before it was finally gave way to the current waves of tourists that flock daily to the Colosseum.

It’s one of those places that make a trip just that much enjoyable. Ai Marmi is a pizza joint in the Trastevere, in Rome. The pizza, good although nothing fancy. The no-frills service delivered with amiable grunts and spent out jokes. The decor dated and eclectic, cold marble tables crammed in narrow rows. The heat from the wood-heated oven turned the noisy dining room into a sauna. The tables outside were battled over by sweaty Americans. And all this is perfectly fine if you feel the place you are in is the real deal! Ai Marmi has been serving pizzas and delicious starters to Romans and otherwise since the 50’s, and we hope, for many decades more.